The next seminar of the South Wales group of the RSS is on Weds 17th March at
5:00pm (4:30pm coffee). It will be held in the Cinema, Welsh Assembly
Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff.
Prof Laurence Moore (Cardiff University)
Research Design For The Rigorous Evaluation Of Complex Educational, Health and
Social Interventions
The strongest research design in the outcome evaluation of interventions is the
randomised controlled trial, which is most easily applied to the evaluation of
simple, well-defined, uniform interventions, such as are found in clinical drug
trials. However, many of the most promising educational, health and social
interventions are complex in nature and highly prone to variability in delivery
and context. The result of this mis-match is that such interventions are not
rigorously evaluated, and their effectiveness is not unequivocally demonstrated.
Within the discipline of health services research, those familiar with the
conduct of randomised controlled trials have been working on the adaptation and
augmentation of clinical trial methodology to develop rigorous experimental
methods for the evaluation of complex interventions, such as behavioural or
health promotion interventions. Much of this work is reflected in a framework
for the evaluation of complex interventions, published by the Medical Research
Council.
This paper draws upon experience from evaluation studies of health education
interventions in schools, all of which used experimental designs and
incorporated a substantial component of process evaluation involving both
qualitative and quantitative research methods. These studies were all designed
to identify the effectiveness of interventions, and were pragmatic trials in
which interventions were delivered in real-world conditions by teachers and
health professionals.
It will be argued that these studies have been able both to provide an unbiased
estimate of the effectiveness of the interventions when applied in normal
practice, and also to illuminate the impact of factors that are variable in
complex interventions, such as intervention delivery, context and support.
All are welcome
Kerry
Dr Kerenza Hood
Senior Lecturer in Statistics
Department of General Practice
University of Wales College of Medicine
Llanedeyrn Health Centre
Llanedeyrn
Cardiff
CF23 9PN
Tel: 029 20547532 (direct)
Tel: 029 20541133 (Dept.)
Fax: 029 20540129
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